HDC mandates ‘Concord granite;’ property owner perplexed

Wednesday

Apr 17, 2013 at 11:53 AMApr 17, 2013 at 11:56 AM

PORTSMOUTH — Owner of the 1860 Custom House, where Book & Bar plans to erect granite steps to an outdoor patio, Larry McManus has been instructed by the Historic District Commission to make the steps using “Concord granite.”

Elizabeth Dinan

PORTSMOUTH — Owner of the 1860 Custom House, where Book & Bar plans to erect granite steps to an outdoor patio, Larry McManus has been instructed by the Historic District Commission to make the steps using “Concord granite.”

But McManus said he doesn’t know the difference “between Concord granite versus Nashua granite” and he doubts anyone does.

“I have granite stored in Hampton, I’ve had it over the years,” McManus said. “But I don’t know if it came from Concord, or East Oshkosh.”

The HDC on April 3 approved plans for the steps and other exterior changes to the State Street side of McManus’ 40 Pleasant St. building, with a list of stipulations. Those stipulations include installing new handrails to match existing handrails, erecting new fencing that matches existing fencing, matching period lighting with the city’s period lighting, and “that the granite steps be Concord granite.”

Book & Bar plans to place cafe tables and chairs on its new patio, and to apply to the city and state Liquor Commission for permission to serve alcoholic beverages with meals there.

A resident of the city’s South End, McManus said he left a message with City Hall asking for contact information for William Gladhill, the Planning Board’s representative on the HDC. During the April 3 HDC meeting, Gladhill was the only commission member to vote against the plans for the Custom House patio saying he believes that if the granite used for the new steps isn’t an exact match to existing granite on the historic property, it would “stick out immensely.”

“The granite is a big issue for me,” Gladhill said before voting against the plans.

McManus said he never got a return call from Gladhill, who also did not return Seacoast Media Group’s message asking for a definition of Concord granite.

McManus said he’s arranged to meet city Principal Planner Nick Cracknell, in Hampton on Thursday so they can look at the granite he has stored there and see if Cracknell “can tell the difference.” Cracknell, who also sits on the HDC, could not be reached for comment because he’s away at a conference until Thursday, according to the city planning office.

City Planner Rick Taintor said he doesn’t know what Concord granite is and deferred to Cracknell. HDC Chairman Joseph Almeida also did not return a message seeking clarification about Concord granite.

In the meantime, McManus said he consulted with a geologist who he quoted as saying, “I can’t tell the difference between Concord and Nashua granite.”

SMG put the same question to Julie Bryce, an associate professor of geochemistry and chair of the earth sciences department at the University of New Hampshire. Bryce said there are various “tools” for determining the origin of granite but it takes time, expertise and money.

“Were money no object, techniques in my lab here could use geochemical fingerprints to figure it out, but it would take a while,” she said.

The U.S. Geological Survey defines Concord granite as a “two-mica granite, locally grading to tonalite.”

McManus said when he went to the HDC a decade ago for approval to install new granite steps below street level on the State Street side of the same building, “it came down to the color of the granite.”

“I said I can match it exactly, but they’re going to be concrete,” he recalled, while adding debate about the color of granite ceased at that juncture.

“It’s not funny when you’re going through it,” McManus said. “I don’t do business, or buy real estate in Portsmouth anymore because of all the regulations and rules.”

While reminding the HDC has no regulatory authority over the color of buildings in the city’s historic districts, McManus said, “I’d like to paint the building pink and black.”

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